Sports Coaching with Community Health and Physical Activity with Foundation Year BSc (Hons)

Buckinghamshire New University

This course includes an additional year as a foundation year. This begins at the start of the course and will help prepare you for full time undergraduate study. The foundation year is intended for those who didn't meet the entry requirements for the course or want to take an additional year to prepare for study. At the end you will still receive the BSc award.

This course has a shared first year across multiple specialisms. After your first year, if you want to study a different specialism you can choose to change between BA (Hons) Sports Coaching with Physical Education, Sports Coaching with Business, and BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching with Performance Sport.

Why study at BNU?

By studying this course with us, you’ll have the opportunity to look at athlete development and analysis when spending time in our state-of-the-art Human Performance Laboratory. As well as the degree qualification, you’ll also have the opportunity to take UKCC coaching certifications and Sports Coach UK awards.

Here at BNU, we always encourage our students to get as much industry experience as possible. Our strong links with industry partners will enable you to seek volunteering and paid work opportunities. This, along with our practical approach to the course, will give you a deeper understanding of the professional environment and type of career that awaits you beyond graduation.

We also pride ourselves on the amazing opportunities we offer our students to start forming their own networks within industry. This means not only will you have access to first-hand accounts from those on the ‘front-line’ while you study, but you’ll also make priceless connections for when the time comes to jump into your first job.

We work with some incredible partners like the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey which is home to several governing bodies in sport, Leap (County Sports Partnership), Stoke Mandeville Hospital (the famous birthplace of the Paralympics), Reading Ladies Football Club and the National League basketball team, London United, to name just a few.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

What will I study?

This pathway introduces you to knowledge of hard-to-reach populations, government policies and strategies related to health and wellbeing, and the organisations that deliver sport and physical activity at the non-elite, participatory level. This pathway would be great for you if you have ambitions of engaging your local community in sport, supporting vulnerable people, working in or helping to set up local community clubs and engaging with your local sports teams.

Career prospects

Throughout your time with us we’ll support you on the route to your chosen career. We’ll help you to develop crucial skills, encouraging you to become enterprising, employable and good leaders. We also help you find employment after graduation. Have a look at our Careers and Employability pages to find out more.

Many of our graduates go on to have careers as a PE Teacher, work in education or sports coaching and contribute greatly to society using the skills they gained on this pathway. Some students also enter community work or pursue other sports-related careers after graduation, and your career prospects are exciting.

Our pathway will help prepare you for a range of career possibilities, such as:

• sports coach
• teaching
• sports teacher
• nutritionist
• sports management
• marketing
• corporate position within sport